Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book made into a movie you've already seen. Brief synopsis: When Nick's wife, A...

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book made into a movie you've already seen.

Brief synopsis: When Nick's wife, Amy, goes missing in a perceived struggle on their five-year anniversary, an investigation commences. As Nick's lies start to unravel, all signs start to point to him. Simultaneously, the reader gets snippets from Amy's journal that gives more in-depth glances into their relationship. And oh, did I mention Amy's kind of famous because of a series of children's books based off her life. So, this story is national news.

Maybe this wasn't the best book to read to fulfill this prompt. Gone Girl has a pretty impressive twist - one that's revealed only halfway through the book. So, I already knew what going to happen, and I already hated all of the characters: Amy, Andie, Nick... in that order.

I did feel the book was well-written though. It's the second book I've read from Gillian Flynn, and I quite like her writing style. I've honestly seen a good bit of negative reviews for the book, which surprised me. I think the story's really twisty, if not unbelievable at parts, but overall really quality.

I think I would have liked the book better if I'd read it before seeing the movie. I think the lack of shock-value brought down my overall feeling towards the book. And if I hadn't already seen the movie, I wouldn't have seen the twists coming. And granted, it's been a few years since I actually saw the movie, so some stuff I didn't remember as much - but I did remember all of the major plot points and major twists.

It's almost difficult to review this book, since I've seen the movie and I feel like most people have, but I'm very avid about not posting spoilers, so it's hard to say much without giving anything away.

I will say - I enjoyed the book, even though I knew what was going to happen. The writing was solid, the twists were shocking (if I didn't know prior what they were). I was even able to form some of my own perceptions about what the characters looked like without relying too much upon the movie.

I want to re-watch the movie at this point just to really compare and contrast now.

Kayla Whitter is a 20-something INFJ and Hufflepuff. She enjoys reading avidly, binge-watching tv shows, and occasionally venturing out into the world. She can often be found drinking coffee, and eating burritos or Chick-fil-a.

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I think you would have loved the book so much more if you read it before seeing the movie and weren't connecting those actors with the roles in your head. I'm one of those people who always think the book is better than the movie, but then again I usually read the book first :)

I definitely agree with you there! I typically read the book first, too, but the movie came out before I was really reading a lot again, so it wasn't even something that had crossed my mind at that point.

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